Development gets better with Age

Original post: Development gets better with Age

Werner Vogels wrote this fantastic piece on how to take things slow. As seasoned developers, we have seen many new technologies emerge with their respective bubbles/hype. What is the most reasonable thing to do, then?

The older developer knows that this is exactly the time to press the pause button.

AI is no exception, but apparently, most people and companies forgot to pause. Indeed, we’ve been living the last one or two years in a hurry, always catching up with the latest models and betting on which job AI is going to take, given the recent progress. And why is this happening?

Almost every customer I speak with asks: “What should we be doing with gen AI?” […] You’ll find that 90% of the answers you get back are not because they think generative AI will solve a specific problem that their business is encountering, but because they’re anxious. That they have very strong feelings of FOMO

Nothing more than that. FOMO. Try to look randomly at one famous company: 99/100 the word AI appeared in their product proposition, even if it was not necessary at all. The product worked great even without Gen AI. But in this way, you (the customer) know that the company is up-to-date or wants to show that it is.

Then you do exactly what you’ve always done. Have an in-depth conversation with your customer, listen, dive deep into their challenges, suggest architectures, migrations, and tools. And sometimes, the solution will be generative AI.

Sometimes. That’s the keyword. Gen AI is an amazing technological advancement, but it’s not the solution to everything. Keep it in mind the next time you think about it.